Demons
IRL The concept of demons and hellish beings is seen across every single human culture. The mainstream view of demons originates from Christianity because it's a major religion. Many demons represent emotions and/or feelings, while others have been used to explain phenomenons that now have science to back them up. I'm mostly referring to sleep paralysis. People used to think that demons would sit on you, wait until you realized, and then ate you. Yeah, no. Sleep paralysis occurs due to the fact that your brain shuts down your nervous system once you succumb to resting eye movement (REM), as to keep you from acting out your dreams or sleep walking. When you wake up without your brain realizing it, you end up paralyzed. The best advice doctors and scientists give is to simply go back to sleep. In Baolynn Incubus/oucubus/succubus; (m/n/f) names for any demonic, angelic, or nephalic type. Regardless of their type, their appearance will still be mixed with their totem, their race, and their type (claw/wing/both). Demon offspring are called imps. To become a demon, you have to have low karma when you die and for your body to be infected with Tol-grun's disease. You can become an angel by self-redemption. There are three different types of demons: * Silverclaw: An archdemon; a demon higher in rank. Their goetic seals are branded into their skin to denote their rank. * Blackclaw: A typical demon with bat-like wings, horns, a tail, and red skin of varying shades. Demon skin is thick, rough, hide-like, and able to resist inhumanly high temperatures. * Blackwing: A fallen angel with black feathered wings that begin to shed to look bat-like, skin that's turning red, growing horns, and scleras that are turning black. These are the terms that I created to stray away from the "sinners and saints" mentality. They're used in the Underworld, though Overworlders tend not to gravitate towards these. A seraphim isn't a type specific to any of the three, but it's the rare state of having three sets of wings. The only known way to inherit the trait is by a parent. Any demonic or angelic type may be a seraphim. Example: A demonic seraphim or an angelic seraphim. Nephalic seraphim have never occurred, except once. Blackclaw/wing irises are orientated around the Seven Deadly Sins. For those unfamiliar with them, they are: * Wrath represents power, danger, anger, and hatred. Wrath demons have red eyes. * Gluttony represents territorialness, self-serving, impatience, and hoarding. Glutton demons have orange eyes. * Pride represents narcissism, arrogance, rudeness, and stubbornness. Pride demons have yellow eyes. * Greed represents a lack of self-control, selfishness, avarice, and disconcern. Greed demons have green eyes. * Sloth represents unawareness, unwillingness, nihilism, and a lack of effort. Sloth demons have blue eyes. * Envy represents resentment, regret, ill-guided ambition, and paranoia. Envy demons have purple eyes. * Lust represents unhealthy obsessions, riskyness, manipulation, and dishonesty. Lust demons have pink eyes. Stereotypes They're tremendously hazardous and will do whatever they want to you. The only types of demons able to come to the surface are wrath and lust. Notable Examples * Luka Vermiculus, lust blackclaw * Jasper Zolnervolk, sloth blackwing History & Culture Demons are ruled by the wood elven goddess Dagrun. As she is not always around, she forged The Goetic Council to rule and protect Valaru in her stead. The council consists of two of each demonic type, each of the fourteen members branded with a goetic seal, given the title of archdemon/silverclaw, and as much power as a demigod. The individuals don't get to choose where the goetic seal is placed, but do get to choose what it looks like. They're supposed to serve for life, but archdemons being fired, resigning, or dying do occur. Trivia * Succubus and incubus come from succubare (Latin; to lie under) and incubare (Latin; to lie on). Therefore, succubi are sexually submissive and incubi are sexually dominant without automatically being female and male respectively. I didn't know this beforehand, but even now, I'd rather not change it. Oucubus comes from concubus (Latin; to lie with/beside). I modified it out of fear for being confused with concubine. * Envy is a reaction to lacking something, while jealousy is a reaction to the threat of losing something, usually someone. They're not synonyms, though many people think otherwise. * Lust isn't about sexual desires, as for most of us, it's a healthy and normal part of being mortal. And y'know, asexuals exist. It's when it becomes an addiction, does it become a bad thing.